About James Willard Cummings

James Willard Cummings (1819 - 1883), son of James Cummings and Susannah Willard Cummings, was born 10 March 1819 in Wilton, Kennebec County [present Franklin], Maine. His father, mother, and son at Winter Quarters on the journey to Utah, which he and the remainder of the family reached in 1851. He died at the age of 64 on 19 May 1883 at Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah Territory. He had three plural wives.

Biographical Sketch

James Willard Cummings was a large man, tall and portly, at one time weighing 240 lbs. His granddaughter described him as possessing a commanding presence, a superior intellect, and great force of character,

"He was an eloquent speaker, and displayed the courage of his convictions. One of his outstanding characteristics was charity. Though apparently of a rather stern nature, he was extremely kind hearted and was especially good to the poor and the needy. On many occasions, he took the needy into his own home and cared for them. He always provided well for his family and at one time was quite well to do. He made some unfortunate investments and lost a great deal of his money and property, so that at the time of his death he was in moderate circumstances."

By the time he was 22, most of his father's family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When they emigrated to Nauvoo, he went with them, although he hadn't yet joined the church. He was baptized a few months later, on 8 October 1841. He started on his first mission 7 July 1842, traveling in the northeastern part of Illinois, and returned to Nauvoo the next summer. He was one of the posse who rescued Joseph Smith from kidnappers.

In the fall of 1843 he went on a mission to Mississippi and Alabama. He returned again to Nauvoo in the fall of 1844. He assisted in ferrying the first migration of the Saints across the Mississippi from Nauvoo, when they started west in February 1846. In early July he and his family started west with his father's family. They joined the main camp on the west side of the Missouri.

In the spring of 1848 he went from Winter Quarters to England on a mission, leaving his wife sick in Connecticut, with friends. He returned in 1851 in time for he and his family to cross the plains with that season's emigration. They left Kanesville, Iowa on 21 June 1851 leading several handcart companies across the plains to Utah, and arrived in Salt Lake City on 5 October 1851. They settled in Salt Lake City. At one time he owned a tannery on Main Street in Salt Lake City.

In 1858 he was sent by Governor Brigham Young in command of a company of scouts to meet the army sent to Utah by President Buchanan. They first sighted the army near old Fort Laramie and, to use his own words, "they herded them from there up to near Green River." Later, about 1860, he became Superintendent of the Deseret Woolen Mills, owned by Brigham Young. He later operated a similar factory in Ogden and also was interested in mining. In 1885 he was appointed by Brigham Young to the office of Major in the First Regiment Cavalry of the First Division of the Nauvoo Legion. For several years in the early history of Utah he was an active and energetic member of the Legislature; several years a member of the City Council of Salt Lake City, clerk of the County and Probate Courts, and County Treasurer.

Cummings Memorial, Author: George Mooar, Published New York City 1903, by Benjamin Franklin Cummings. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Film 0982215, Item 1, Page 135. Descendants of Isaac Cummings 1601-1677 of Watertown, Ipswich and Topsfield, Massachusetts.

James Cummings Family of Utah, Author: Benjamin Franklin Cummings III, Provo Utah 1955, Page 11. Family History Library, Salt Lake City. Ancestors and descendants of James Cummings who was baptized in Maine in 1837 and came West to Winter Quarters and died there.

James Willard Cummings Life Sketch, by his granddaughter, Mrs. Clare Cummings Brown